


Chowder, Please!

by Lukutoukka



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Multi, Polyamorous Frogs, because why not, prompt: frogs, prompt: full moon, totally what i was going for oh yes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-01-09 04:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12268956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lukutoukka/pseuds/Lukutoukka
Summary: What started out as a collection of my fics for ChowderWeek 2017 and turned into polyfrogs. Ooops?Chapter 1: Prompt 1: Full MoonSomething about today is off. Pizza makes everything better.Chapter 2 (Prompt 4:) FrogsEverything up to Chapter 1, and the two days afterwards





	1. Day 1: Full Moon

Birds fly together in autumn. It’s a normal sight. Today, in the early dusk, the flock of birds has an eeriness it didn’t have yesterday. Chris is on his way to today’s second training, the wind blowing dry leaves around his feet. There’s a flock of dark birds circling between the oldest buildings on campus and over the little green plaza. More of them are sitting in the trees. For just a second, he’s reminded of that Hitchcock movie, before laughing to himself. Nonetheless he shudders, crosses his arms, and walks a bit faster towards Faber.

It’s dark when training lets out, but since it’s well into autumn, that only means that it’s still before dinner time. There’s a certain, quiet unrest in the team, has been since morning practice, but nothing Chris could pinpoint. It hadn’t been a great day, everybody seemed on edge for no reason. Dex and Nursey, who had started to get along much better, had been at each other's throats all the time today, and even Bitty had sworn as much as his southern upbringing allowed. Outside of training, it hadn’t been much better. Everywhere, people seemed on edge and short-tempered and Chris is just about ready for the end of the day. Luckily, it’s Friday evening and there’s no game this weekend.

With a sigh, he hoists his sports bag on his shoulder and turns to the others. “Anybody got plans for dinner?”

Most of the team’s already gone, and those that are still there bow out, but Nursey suggests trying the new pizza place. Dex has the uncertain look on his face that Chris has come to recognize as his “I want to, but I don’t want to ask” face, so he proposes a Frog night. Both Nursey and Dex hesitate a bit - it really wasn’t a good day for them - but Chris just talks about how they need to do some Frogbonding and it would be so much fun and pretty please and they give in quickly. 

They step outside, and into darkness. Not complete darkness, that is, since they’re still on a well-lit campus in the middle of a reasonably big city where there’s no such thing as complete darkness. However, the puddles of light around the lamps feel smaller than usual, and the darkness between them thicker. Even though there’s a big street relatively close by, it’s mostly quiet, only broken by the rustle of the dry leaves still on the trees and those the wind blows across the ground. Unconsciously, the three of them huddle closer together and walk just that much faster than they normally would.

On their way to the pizzeria, they passed a group of lax bros arguing with raised voices in the middle of a small plaza, though everybody else seems in a hurry to reach their destinations. Twice, there’s sirens rushing unseen to different locations, and the wind is picking up. Luckily it’s only about a 20 minute walk, and soon they can see the pizza parlour coming up, the light spilling out of the windows promising warmth. They cover the last 500 yards in record time before stumbling through the glass doors into the pizza parlour.

Over dinner, the atmosphere becomes more relaxed. The pizza parlour is catered towards college students, who make up about 70% of the clients this early in the evening. The wooden tables are covered with the stereotypical red and white checkered table cloth, the quiet music in the background is Italian. Best of all, the prices are small and the pizzas are big and cheesy. They each got a different pizza and once they arrive, there’s a bit of bickering going on, but in the end all of them have a slice of each pizza and Nursey concedes that the pizza is good. For out of New York City, he’s quick to add, but still. Chris and Dex share an amused look and finish their frankly fantastic pizzas.

An hour later, Chris is warm, full of pizza and dessert and happier than he had been all day, maybe all week. He leans back in his chair, his eyes growing heavy.

“I could sleep now,” he sighs, and Nursey laughs.

“It’s Friday evening, not yet 10pm and you wanna sleep?” His chirping would have been more effective if he didn’t look exactly the same way Chris is feeling, all 6’2” of him soft and relaxed in the chair.

Chris simply kicks at Nursey. Or at least he intends to kick Nursey, but judging from Dex’s “Ey!” and Nursey’s subsequent smug look, it’s Dex’s shin he hits instead. Dex retaliates by packing his elbow into Nursey’s ribs and kicking back in Chris’ direction and there’s a small, light-hearted struggle going on before they remember where they are and settle down again. Nursey sticks his tongue out in Dex’s direction, who in turn gets slightly pink ears and makes a face right back. Chris interrupts the two of them before they can start another squabble.

“Movie night at mine?” he suggests and this time, neither Nursey nor Dex hesitate before saying yes.

The moon had risen while they ate, and now it hangs full and white over the buildings, brightening the darkness. They make their way across campus without speaking much, the warmth of the pizza parlour still clinging to them, although the walking and the cold night air wakes them up a bit. The dorm isn’t far and soon they all pile into Chris’ room. Nursey manages to stumble over thin air, but Dex catches him before he falls and only chirps Nursey a bit.

Somehow, they manage to arrange themselves relatively comfortably on Chris’ bed with only a minimal amount of swearing and chirping, the laptop safely on the desk, playing “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” None of them make it to the end of the movie. Nursey, half draped over Dex, is the first to fall asleep. Chris doesn’t actually know if he falls asleep next or Dex, but the last thing he remembers is the full moon shining through the curtains they forgot to close.


	2. Prompt: Frogs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we cover everything up to the events in Chapter 1, and then the two days after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, these stories were supposed to be for Chowder Week 2017. I managed to write the first of those prompts on time (Full Moon, Chapter 1), but then school and stuff happened, and I never got around to write something for the other prompts. I still had the beginning (several beginnings, actually) for what was Prompt 4: Frogs and when I had some time just now, I decided to work on some of my unfinished stuff. So here we go. 
> 
> This also isn't all that Chowder-centric - one of the reasons I originally scrapped the beginning of this. It's also not beta-read, sorry.

Chowder Week, Prompt 4: Frogs

They had needed some time to get where they are now. Chris and Nursey got along like a house on fire right from the beginning, and the friendship between Chris and Dex took a bit longer, but grew strong quickly. Dex and Nursey however, that was a different story. From day one, they worked well enough on the ice, but off the ice was a completely different thing. Chris, in turn, was a bit torn between them. He really wanted to be friends with both of them and they didn’t need to become like Ransom and Holster, but a bit more friendship could be possible, no?

So Chris went and collected ideas on how to make them get along better. They just needed to see past, well, stuff.

Step one: Talk to the rest of the team to collect ideas on how they might get along better and get help. Should be easy enough, right?

Wrong. Step one worked out like this: Bitty just said that not everyone could get along like Ransom and Holster, and maybe it wasn’t meant to be. Didn’t they get along okay, though? Jack started talking about team building exercises in the early morning, which Chris took to mean “the middle of the night”. He excused himself rather quickly and hoped nobody would ever know it was him that gave Jack that idea. Shitty started into a lecture about different experiences and upbringings and the resulting worldviews and it _sounded_ promising, but he never got to the point that explained how to resolve these problems. That is, he talked about how Nursey and Dex taking each other’s point of view into account would help, but getting them to talk, never mind getting them to talk about _important_ stuff, was nearly impossible.

As a last resort, Chris tried talking to Ransom and Holster, because maybe they had needed some time to get used to each other as well? However, they just shrugged and said that they just kind of clicked when they met, had Chowder considered that not every D-men got along like the two of them and didn’t need to?

Step Two: Talk to Nursey and Dex on their own again.

Unsurprisingly, that didn’t go down too well. Dex got really, really quiet and in the end just said: “I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” and Nursey, well, Nursey just pointed to Dex’ laptop which was lying on the table in the Haus kitchen and sported a Samwell Republican sticker. “No.”

Step Three: …

Step Three took a while for Chris to work out. The idea was simple enough: Get them to see each other as more than they did at the moment. In practise, of course, this had already proven to be impossible. Every time he tried to bring up their respective D-line partner, both Dex and Nursey changed topics. One time, Dex actually got up and left.

And then Chris stumbled over the solution almost by accident: _Frog movie night_.

It started with Chris excitedly telling Dex that he really, really needed to see Mad Max: Fury Road one day after training. Dex made noncommittal noises while wriggling out of his pads, but didn’t really say anything, which was when Nursey chimed in, to say that it really was a great movie and also, he owned the DVD.

“Swawesome, let’s do a frog movie night!”

Dex, who had made it out of his pads, regarded Chris with a very flat look.

“Really?”

Luckily for Chris, both Nursey and Dex were incredibly competitive, so when Nursey chirped Dex about not enjoying movie night with two of his teammates, Dex reluctantly agreed to the movie night. Which was how they ended up huddled together on Chris’ bed for the first time.

Over the next months, a weary peace is achieved between Nursey and Dex through movie night. An optimistic person such as Chris might even call it friendship. They don’t have movie night every week, but it becomes more frequent, with someone else choosing the movie every time. And where in the beginning Chris always sat between Nursey and Dex and one of them always excused themself rather quickly after the end of the movie, they got more relaxed as time went on until more often than not, they ended up falling asleep in one big pile. (Chris was very happy about his single and the subsequent wider bed he had. Still, it was a tight fit.)

***

All in all, it went rather well. Which is why it’s a surprise when Dex books it after pizza and movie night.

Chris doesn’t even notice anything wrong at first. The very first thing he notices that morning is the sun that falls through the open curtains, right in his face. They had forgotten to close them last night, he remembers. Apparently, he also fell asleep completely dressed. In sweats, but still. Talk about uncomfortable. Sleepily, he turns away from the window, to face Dex and Nursey next to him. They don’t have training all day, only team brunch at 11am, and Chris considers how likely the possibility is that they are able to talk Dex into a day in bed. Not very, he thinks, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to try.

Dex, it had turned out over the last weeks, was an early riser, while Nursey was not a morning person at all. Chris, too, rather liked staying in bed for a while when he could, even when he woke up relatively early. In the beginning, Dex had gotten up once he woke up and was gone before either Chris or Nursey was (fully) awake, but after a while, when it began to get more and more complicated extracting one of them without waking the others, he had taken to having a book with him that he read while waiting for the others to wake up.

This morning, Dex is completely buried under a lightly snoring Nursey and Chris sleepily thinks how it must grate on him, not being able to read, when Dex turns at his head and looks at him with wide eyes. His breathing is rather shallow too, but that might be because there’s a 6’22”, nearly 200 pound hockey player lying on top of him.

“Dex? You okay?”

“Shh, I don’t want to wake Nursey up,” Dex whispers back. Nursey grumbles and buries his head in Dex’ neck. Dex lifts the hand that isn’t buried under Nursey and lightly scratches through the hair at Nursey’s nape, who in turn seems to go even more relaxed. Dex grimaces at Chowder, but makes no attempt to move Nursey.

They lie there like that for a long while, Dex pulling his fingers through Nursey’s hair, Nursey still fast asleep on top of him and Chris blinking sleepily at the two of them. Finally, Dex starts to stir, although he never stops carting his fingers through Nursey’s hair.

“Nurse. Hey, Nurse. Wake up. Come on man, you need to move, you’re lying on my bladder.” Nursey grumbles, but starts rolling off of Dex, away from Chris. Where there shouldn’t be anymore of the bed. Dex catches him before he really gets moving though, and shoves him towards Chris.

“Other side, Nursey. We don’t want you to fall out of bed now, do we?” Nursey buries his face in the pillow that is free now that Dex got up and grumbles. And suddenly, Dex is moving, grabbing his stuff and before Chris can really process what’s going on, he’s out of the door. Nursey rolls on his back, coming very close to falling out of the bed again, and blinks at Chris.

“‘s that only me, or did he just flee? What the hell,” he says with a sleep heavy voice. Chris looks from the door to Nursey, back to the door and back to Nursey.

“I think he did,” he confirms. “Think we should go after him?”

They don’t go after him, figuring he needs some time alone before team brunch. Nursey grumbles at being reminded about it.

“How long ‘til I have to get up?”

***

Dex doesn’t turn up for brunch. Bitty doesn’t bat an eye, just says he excused himself and would be back on time for training on Sunday. Nursey turns to Chris.

“Back from where?”

After brunch, they hang out at the Haus, in the hopes that Dex would be back at some point and come by - he left his laptop (for a couple of weeks now without the Samwell Republican sticker) with Bitty, who starts backing the second the kitchen is cleaned up after brunch.

Around 3pm, the whole Haus smells like pie, Chris gets so itchy he starts power walking around the couch, questioning what happened and Bitty sighs every time he walks past them.

An hour later, Nursey gives up pretending to read his book and Chris is doing stretches next to the couch to distract himself, when Bitty walks into the room.

“Alright,” he announces. “Dex is at Houghs Neck. Ransom and Holster will drive you there.”

When Nursey and Chris jump up, he positions himself in front of the door and Bitty might only be 5’6” and 125 pounds soaking wet, but neither of them dares to push past him when he has that look on his face.

“Don’t you dare muck this up, the two of you, or there’s no more pie for y’all, alright?” They nod. Bitty steps aside, then calls them back when they hurry to the door.

“Hold on! There’s apple pie in the kitchen and don’t forget to take your jackets!”

***

It’s quiet in the car, only the occasional instructions from the satnav. When its robotic voice instructs Holster to leave the Highway, Ransom turns around to look at Chris and Nursey in the backseat.

“Don’t fuck this up, okay?” he says. “This is important to Dex.” Nursey starts to say something, but Ransom interrupts him before he can get anything out.

“He talked to us,” Ransom says and Chris can’t help himself.

“He talked to you?” he echoes.

“And Bitty,” Ransom confirms.

“He talked to you and Bitty.” Nursey sounds a little weak, and Chris knows with one look that they’re thinking the same thing: Why would Dex talk to Ransom, Holster and Bitty, but not them? Ransom, however, barrels right on.

“Yes he did. Now listen up. Don’t fuck this up. Promise!” They promise, just as Holster turns of the car.

Outside, the sun is almost gone, dusk helped along by the dark clouds that have been gathering all day and even inside the car, they notice the wind. They’re in a little parking lot, near the pier on the very end of a small peninsula, which is almost empty. Next to them is Dex’ old truck, its rusty red almost brown in this light, and on the other side of the lot are only two other cars.

After a look on his phone, Holster shoos them out of the car: “He’s on the pier. Go!”

They gather the pie and put on their jackets, the cold biting even through their winter jackets and hats. Chris pulls his Shark’s hat low over his ears and Nursey gets out his fingerless gloves, before they start down the length of the pier; Dex a lone figure at the end of it, leaning against the railing, looking at them.

When they come closer, Chris thinks how good Dex looks, windswept and without a hat, the restless sea behind him pounding against the stones beneath the pier. He looks relaxed and like he belongs right here. For a second, Chris imagines him emerging him from the sea, water clinging to him longer than it should, his teeth slightly pointed. Nursey next to him makes a small noise.

They don't say anything when they reach Dex besides "Hi", instead they stand together quietly for a while, looking out over the sea, Chris to Dex’ left, Nursey to his right. Dex finally breaks the silence between them, not looking at either of them.

“I’m queer. I’m-” he stops with a frustrated noise.

“Dude,” Chris hears Nursey say. “That’s totally cool, you know that, right? There’s no need to explain more, if you don’t want to.” Chris feels more than he sees Nursey put an arm around Dex’ waist and Dex leaning into him. He takes a deep breath.

“I’m bi,” he offers. Dex tugs him into a hug with his free arm and they’re quiet again for a while, before Nursey says: “I’m gay.”

They stay a while right there, hugging and leaning on each other, quietly looking out at sea. Eventually, Dex asks about the pie Bitty promised him and they walk back to his truck, where they manage to fit into the cabin with enough space each to still be more or less comfortable. Dex turns on the radio, and soft rock music fills the cabin. They’ve made it through a slice of pie each when Dex speaks up again.

“I wasn’t scared coming out to you guys, I want you to know that. It was just easier talking to Bitty. And then Ransom and Holster somehow got involved, but anyway, it’s -” his ears turn pink and he kind of glances at Nursey.

So that’s why, Chris thinks, and busies himself with another bite of pie. Nursey on the other hand, who had until now done his very best to basically inhale the pie, stops eating and tries to pat Dex’ knee - an attempt that very nearly results in him upending the still half full pie container that was balanced on his knees.

After the commotion dies down and the pie is saved, he says: “It’s okay Dex. Sometimes it’s easier to talk to people you who have a little distance to.” and that’s that.

They make their way back and the music turns out to be a CD, not radio at all. It’s a mix of slightly different styles of music from one band and Chris thinks that it rather fits Dex. Dex’ ears turn pink again when he points out his favourite of the songs - an Icelandic ballad that carries a lot feeling, even through the shitty speakers of Dex’ truck.

***

They end up in Chris’ bed again, watching Finding Dory. Dex in the middle, leaning against the headboard, Nursey draped over his side, slowly sliding lower until his head is pillowed on Dex' shoulder, his arm slung around Dex' waist, Chris pressed close on the other side. He learned last night’s lesson and changes into cut off sweats before joining the other two, but neither Nursey nor Dex have anything in his room to change into, aside possibly from a pair of Chris’ sweats, which wouldn’t fit either of them.

Dex falls asleep even before Dory meets Hank, his head at an angle that doesn’t look like it can be very comfortable, and then Nursey is reaching out to play with the threads that dangle from the end of Chris’ sweats. “You’ve been awfully quiet today,” he says softly, looking up at Chris from where his head lies on Dex’ chest. Chris sighs. His problem is about what he thinks that Dex didn’t say to them today and he doesn’t think Dex would appreciate it if he voiced his thoughts. Especially if he voiced his thoughts to Nursey.

“I think I need to think about it some time before talking about it,” he says finally, because that’s also true. Nursey looks at him for a second longer, then he nods.

“Think we should wake Dexy and get him out of his pants?” he asks and pats Dex’ side, who grumbles something that sounds like “not Dexy” but sits up anyway, dislodging Nursey in the process. Nursey retaliates by trying to get Dex into a headlock, which fails because of the position he’s in, but successfully starts a small, friendly brawl, which ends in laughter when Dex and Nursey fall on the floor, taking Chris’ shark pillow with them.

***

They have afternoon training the next day, and afterwards, Dex asks Chris if they can talk, just the two of them. Which is how they end up in Chris’ room, Dex standing in the middle of the room, like he doesn’t quite know what to do with himself, scuffing the floor with his socked toes. Chris sits down on his bed and grabs his Shark plushie, just to have something to do with his hands. He thinks he’s got an idea what this is about.

“I think I’ve got an idea what this is about,” he says out loud, just so they can get this over with. Dex turns bright red and scuffs his feet harder.

“I heard you and Nursey talk yesterday,” he begins. Chris nods.

“Okay.”

“You know that I’m crushing on you and Nursey.” It’s not a question.

“Ye- Wait, what?” They stare at each other.

“I saw the way you were looking,” Chris says slowly, mind reeling, “at Nursey.” Who had been sitting between them.

“At Nursey _and you_ ,” Dex says, standing ramrod straight now, looking like he’s seriously considering the possibility of running and Chris thinks “Oh.”. And then apparently he stops thinking completely, because he steps up to Dex, puts his hands around his face and kisses him. He has to stretch up a little bit, because Dex is ridiculously tall, and for a second he panics, because Dex doesn’t react - until he does, returning the kiss and bringing his hands up around Chris’ neck. Chris softly pushes him towards the bed, and Dex goes willingly, lets Chowder walk him backwards towards the bed. It’s Chris who breaks the kiss and pushes Dex to sit down, then sits down next to him, linking their fingers together.

“You know what I thought when I saw you looking at Nursey yesterday? I thought you’d be together with Nursey and I - I liked that idea for a second, and then I hated it. Because thinking about the two of you together made me see that - that I wanted to be part of that, that I wanted - want - both of you.” He had kept his eyes on their linked hands while talking, but when he hears Dex take in a sharp breath, he looks up at Dex, who is returning his gaze with wide eyes.

They shoot Nursey a message, who turns up half an hour later, bringing Falafel with him - in an unspoken agreement they decide to first eat, then talk with Nursey.

“So… Remember I said I needed to think about that thing before talking about it?” Nursey nods. “So the thing is… When we were talking in the truck, yesterday, I thought I saw Dex looking at you and I thought the thing he didn’t say was that he had a crush on you, which was why I was so quiet, because I might have been a tad panicky?” Dex clicks his tongue.

“He was wrong, you know.” Dex stares Nursey down, like he dares Nursey to make a move. Nursey looks from Chris, to Dex, and back.

“Are you… are you guys telling me that you are together?” he finally asks, his expression unreadable. “You guys know that I’m totally chill with that right?” Chris thinks how unchill Nursey is most of the time he says he’s chill. Dex seems to think along similar lines, because he gets up and basically stalks towards Nursey.

“No, Nurse, you idiot. We’re saying I have a crush on Chowder and you both.” He’s right up in Nursey’s space now, his dare from earlier intensified. Nursey sort of freezes up, but just when Chris opens his mouth to say something, he grabs Dex’ wrist with one hand and holds the other one up, like he's signalling "stop".

“Hold on.” He turns towards Chris. “Are you asking what I think you’re asking? Are you asking me if I’m -” He stops, obviously unsure. Dex pushes even closer to him.

“Yes, Nurse. We’re asking if you’re interested in us. You want me on my knees or what?” Chris can see the sparkle in Nursey’s eyes - he can see his answer coming a mile away.

“Yes,” he says. “Yes, I’m interested in you. And in having you on your knees, but that might be a discussion for anoth-”

Before he can finish his sentence, Dex kisses him, hard and pushy, like one of their arguments and Derek gives as good as he gets and Chris thinks that he’s really not sure what he’s done to deserve this, but he should do more of it.

Then Will and Derek break apart, panting slightly, big, goofy grins on both of their faces, and Will pushes Derek towards Chris and when Derek kisses Chris and Will has his hand on Chris’ thigh, Chris thinks that this, this is going to be good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm currently writing a Nursey!Dex OS in which Dex talks like a real Mainah (brought to you by me, the German, with the help of some internet resources and a friend from Maine) and I wondered if anybody knew some specific language feature(s) of either Chowder's or Nursey's speech based on their background/ upbringing I should most definitely include - if so, I'd be happy to be contacted. I'm technically on a tumblr hiatus until easter, but I'm still checking my messages there every now and again. 
> 
> Of course, you're welcome on my [tumblr](http://vanillivilovesreus.tumblr.com/) in any case!

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that was my very first fic for Check, Please. As you might have noticed, I like commas. That's because I'm German and I was raised on the fact that a sentence needs at least two commas to be a sentence. Kudos and comments (with love or constructive critique or both) make me very happy!


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